JPH0518948U - Vehicle display - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] In a display device that displays driving information in front of the windshield, good visibility is always maintained without being affected by changes in ambient brightness. [Structure] An optical sensor 10 is attached to the outside of a vehicle 2, a comparison circuit 11 for comparing signal levels to the optical sensor 10, a switching control circuit 12, and a switching mechanism for rotating a display body 4 in a vertical direction of the vehicle 2. 13 and are connected in sequence. [Effect] When the surroundings are bright, the display body 4 is switched from the front light passage opening 9 to a position facing the driver 6, and the vehicle 2
The display content can be visually recognized well regardless of the external light brightness from the front.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a vehicle display device called a so-called head-up display.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 Conventionally, driving information such as vehicle speed, mileage, remaining amount of fuel, or time was displayed by instruments installed on the instrument panel. Recently, however, the driver has to look at the information from the front of his eyes to see this information. In order to avoid moving the vehicle, these driving information are projected on a combiner in front of the driver, for example, the windshield, so that the displayed image is formed in the outside front view of the windshield so as to overlap with the foreground in the view. A visual display device has been developed and disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 63-81721.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 By the way, the environment in which the vehicle travels is such that the external light state changes greatly from 100,000 lux to approximately 0 lux. In the conventional example, the internal light source emits display light as driving information from the display body. Therefore, the brightness of the displayed image is substantially constant. Therefore, especially when it is very bright during the daytime, the contrast ratio between the external light condition, that is, the brightness of the external light from the front of the vehicle (the combined brightness of the external light and the display light from the display). Is too small, the displayed image looks dark and visibility is poor. To solve this problem, if the amount of light from the internal light source is increased and the brightness of the displayed image is increased, on the contrary, when the surroundings in the morning and evening are not very bright, the displayed image looks too bright and looks dazzling. As described above, in the related art, since the brightness of the display image is constant, it is not possible to follow the change in the surrounding brightness, and the brightness deteriorates the visibility.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a vehicular display device in which visibility is always good without being affected by changes in ambient brightness.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 The present invention provides a vehicle display device for projecting a display image of a display body on a projection member in front of a driver, wherein an optical sensor for detecting external light brightness is provided, and when the amount of light received by the optical sensor exceeds a set value, A switching mechanism for switching the displayed image to the real image display for the driver is provided.

[0006]

[Action]

 When the surroundings are dark, such as at night, the display image from the display is projected on the projection member in front of the driver, while when the surroundings are bright, such as the daytime, the display image is directly displayed to the driver as a real image.

[0007]

【Example】

 An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

In FIGS. 1 to 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a windshield of a vehicle 2, which serves as a projection member for projecting a display image described later. 3 is an instrument panel made of a non-translucent material. Reference numeral 4 denotes a display body including a liquid crystal element, a fluorescent display tube, and the like, which are rotatably provided in the instrument panel 3 in the vertical direction of the vehicle 2, and displays driving information such as vehicle speed and time such as numbers and pictures. Display in any display format. Reference numeral 5 denotes a combiner as a projection member, which is formed in front of the driver 6 and above the instrument panel 3 on the back surface or the front surface of the windshield 1 by a method such as vapor deposition or coating as required. Reference numeral 7 denotes an upper surface light-transmitting opening formed on the upper surface of the instrument panel 3 between the display body 4 and the combiner 5, and allows the display image emitted by the display body 4 to pass toward the combiner 5. Reference numeral 8 denotes a convex lens provided between the display body 4 and the upper surface light-transmitting opening 7, which inverts the erect display image emitted by the display body 4 into an inverted display image and forms the image on the combiner 5. It is a thing. A front light passage opening 9 is formed on the front surface of the instrument panel 3 so that an upright display image emitted by the display body 4 is displayed to the driver 6 as a real image. Reference numeral 10 denotes an optical sensor which is attached to the outside of the vehicle 2 and detects the brightness of external light, and is constituted by a photoconductive element in the visible region such as CdS. The signal from the optical sensor 10 is compared by the comparison circuit 11, and the switching control circuit 12 drives and controls the switching mechanism 13 so as to rotate the display body 4 in the vertical direction of the vehicle 2 according to the brightness of the external light. Reference numeral 14 is a display image formed outside and outside the windshield 1, 15 is a display image emitted directly from the front surface of the instrument panel 3 toward the driver 6, and 16 is a front view.

According to the present invention configured as described above, the external light luminance is detected by the optical sensor 10, and the comparison circuit 12 determines whether or not the amount of light received by the optical sensor 10 is a set value or more. By doing so, the display position of the display body 4 is switched to either the front direction of the windshield 1 or the front light transmission opening 9 direction of the instrument panel 3 in accordance with the change in ambient brightness. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, when the surroundings are dark, such as at night, the signal detected by the optical sensor 10 is lower than a predetermined level, and therefore the switching control circuit 12 is based on the output from the comparison circuit 11. The switching mechanism 13 is controlled so that the display surface of the display body 4 faces the convex lens 8. In this case, the upright display image emitted by the display body 4 is inverted by the convex lens 8 into an upright display image, so that it is reflected by the combiner 5 as an upright image as seen from the driver 6, and the driver 6 windshields. The display image 14 standing upright to the outside of 1 can be viewed well together with the landscape 16 in a state where the contrast ratio is always high. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, when the surroundings are bright in the daytime or the like, the signal of the optical sensor 10 becomes higher than a predetermined level, so that the display surface of the display body 4 is switched by the switching mechanism 13 to the front light transmission opening. 9 automatically switches to a position facing the driver 6. Therefore, the upright display image 15 is directly displayed as a real image through the front light passage opening 9 of the instrument panel 3, so that the driver 6 can be surely not affected by the outside light brightness from the front of the vehicle 2. It is possible to visually recognize the display content of the display image 15.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the display 4 is rotated, but in the case where the light of the display 4 is reflected and projected by using the reflection plate, the reflection plate is rotated by the switching mechanism 13 to project the light. You may make it move a position. Further, the combiner 5 may be provided not only on the windshield 1 but also on a semi-transmissive reflection plate which is formed between the windshield 1 and the driver 6 as needed, and projects the display light of the display body 4. Then, the display image 14 is formed in the front field of view of the driver 6, and the same operation as that of the above embodiment can be obtained.

[0011]

[Effect of the device]

 The present invention provides a vehicle display device for projecting a display image of a display body on a projection member in front of a driver, wherein an optical sensor for detecting external light brightness is provided, and when the amount of light received by the optical sensor exceeds a set value, Provided with a switching mechanism for switching the display image so that it is displayed as a real image to the driver, and providing a vehicular display device that always has good visibility without being affected by changes in ambient brightness. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a display state in a dark environment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a display state in a bright environment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Windshield (projection member) 4 Display 10 Optical sensor 13 Switching mechanism

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. In a vehicular display device for projecting a display image of a display member on a projection member in front of a driver, an optical sensor for detecting external light brightness is provided, and when the amount of light received by the optical sensor exceeds a set value. A display device for a vehicle, comprising a switching mechanism for switching the display image to a real image display for the driver.